Study Shows Junk Food in Middle Schools is Not a Factor in Obesity

Over the past few years, the focus on the childhood obesity epidemic has been largely about changing school lunch programs and removing vending machines that hawk soda, candy, and junk food from schools. Fingers have been pointed at the big companies who benefit from sales of these unhealthy snacks, but a new study shows the real problem is at home.

According to a study published in the January issue of Sociology in Education, "Middle school weight gain has nothing to do with the sodas and junk food sold in school." This surprised the authors from Penn State University, who struggled for two years to find a connection. They held back the results until they were certain of their findings. The researchers could not find any evidence to support the belief that obesity in this age group resulted from unhealthy school snacks.

Instead, according to the American Sociology Association's press release, they found that, "While there was a significant increase in the percentage of students who attended schools that sold junk food between fifth and eighth grades, there was no rise in the percentage of students who were overweight or obese. In fact, despite the increased availability of junk food, the percentage of students who were overweight or obese actually decreased from fifth grade to eighth grade, from 39.1 percent to 35.4 percent."

The study revealed that middle schoolers were more likely to binge on the readily available junk foods at home than purchase the same food at school. That is perhaps in part because students' time at school is very structured. The time allotted for lunch period is usually just 30 minutes, and when students are out of the lunchroom, they are running from class to class with no time to spare. In addition, that added barrier of needing money for vending machines prevents kids from purchasing. But at home, if the same food is available, kids can easily spend hours munching on the food.

Jennifer Van Hook, professor of sociology and demography at Penn State University and one of the report authors, said, "When it comes to weight issues, we need to be looking far beyond schools and, more specifically, junk food sales in schools, to make a difference." Van Hook raises another issue: preferred food choices develop at a much younger age than middle school years. "There has been a lot of research showing that many children develop eating habits and tastes for certain types of foods when they are of preschool age, and that those habits and tastes may stay with them for their whole lives," explained Van Hook. "So, their middle school environments might not matter a lot."

If kids start developing preferred snacks before middle school, it's best to try to get kids to not only learn how to eat healthfully, but to like to eat healthy snacks. It's a tall order, but we're here to help. Here are a few of our suggestions to get you and your kids on the right path.